A New Day

You wake up when there's too much daylight in the room. She is no longer in your arms. No, you are on your back and she clings to you like ivy to brick. You feel well-rested. You close your eyes and begin to daydream about how to arrange things. Absentmindedly, you stroke her back. You've gone through several daydream puzzles in your mind before you feel movement at your side and on your chest.

"Hello there. Did you sleep well?"

She makes a noise and then says, "Not bad f'r f'rst night 'n new bed."

"That's good to hear. Why don't I use the bathroom first so that you can doze a bit?" With that you lift the covers and slide out the side of the bed. You head into the bathroom to start your day. When you come out, Tibby rolls out of bed and goes in. She makes the same sound she made earlier.

When you go into your closet, you notice right away that the boxes are gone, well, flattened and pushed to the wall. You want to yell to ask what happened, when you look up and notice that the contents are hanging up or folded on the upper shelves at the back. A few things are on the shelf above the railing. Shoes are matched in pairs, lined neatly on the floor, ready to slide your feet in.

Looking to the other side of the closet you see a section of white and a section of black and then another section of white again. There is a small sprinkling of colour, but not many garments. Her side is definitely fuller than yours. Looking down, you see that the shoes are matched by style so that black and white sit side by side. It looks a bit like a piano keyboard down there. You grin.

The shelves at the back of the closet have black sweaters on the bottom shelf with white sweaters above those. Thinner garments in black and white sit above that, white on one side of the shelf and black on the other. You can tell where your section of the shelves begin because you can see the familiar blues and greens and greys and reds of your various t-shirts, sweatshirts and sweaters. For you, the thinner garments are lower and the bulkier are higher. Just how long did it take you to cook supper last night?

Growls from your stomach remind you that it's time for breakfast...brunch...food.

Today will be another day of settling in, so you grab jeans and a dark grey tank top. Once in the kitchen, you decide to start with coffee and so fill the kettle and put grounds in your French press. You put the cups beside it on the counter.

The clock says it's close to noon so from the fridge the food choices are more savoury than sweet. Basically, it's just a pile of things that could be used to make sandwiches, other than some freshly-boiled eggs to make it feel like brunch. You hear Tibby come out of the bathroom. You put the kettle on and walk into the bedroom to tell her she should wear clothes that she can work in if she wants to help you unpack boxes today. She blinks, smiles, and walks into the closet. By the time she walks into the kitchen, the coffee is made.

Today she is wearing a green vinyl collar, a ponytail, and no kitty makeup or ears. She was dressed in all black and the fabrics looked sturdy. "Do you mind if I don't wear my ears if...?"

"Your ears, your choice. Although I did think you looked cute with them yesterday."

After you finish your brunchy-lunch, it was time to unpack. Since you will use the desk to study, you decide to set up the desk. That leaves Tibby the chance to unpack your books into a homemade bookshelf you brought with you from home. The only request is she must leave the bottom shelf empty for the textbooks you will start accumulating.

You work on your own projects for the afternoon. After the desk had everything in its place, you are free to tackle the miscellaneous boxes. Thankfully Mom had set up the kitchen cupboards on moving day. She left behind a freezer stocked with prepared meals too. This made supper tonight easy: tuna casserole.

After supper, you just want to crash. "What do you want to do?"

Tibby looks down at her plate. "Would you mind if I have some space to stretch out my muscles?"

"Sure, how about the end of the hall, just by the kitchen?"

"No, I don't think that would be big enough for what I need. Could I use a corner of the living room?"

"I don't see why not, as long as you don't mind me being in there after I shower. I'll be on my phone so I shouldn't disturb you." And so that is how you end up in the same room. Fresh and clean, you stretch out on the couch to relax and enjoy the view from the windows. Just as you pull out your phone to catch up on some messages, Tibby walks in with a bright pink yoga mat. She is in black workout gear that is quite fitted.

Maybe she is shy. She doesn't put the mat so that she would face you. No, she puts it so that you would see her in profile as she moves this way and that. It doesn't take long for you to see why the hallway was too narrow as her arms swing in many different directions. Then she is on her back, one leg at a time swinging in many directions. You tell yourself you are calculating how much room she needed as your eyes follow her legs all the way to her pointed toes.

Next, she brings her legs together and then raises them up. Straight lines moving in an arc. She does that a few times and you can see her backside moving too. Then the arc grows bigger as she moves her legs not just up, but back down a bit towards her head. Now you can notice her back stretching too. Once she's had enough of that exercise, she brings her legs back down and sits up.

You figure now is a good time to be on your phone. Yeah, that's what you had wanted to do earlier. You catch up on a few messages. When you look up again, Tibby is in the middle of a new stretch.

This time you continue to watch, mesmerized by her fluid movements. Her legs shift into a handstand. Then she walks on her hands forward on the mat until she brings her legs down and arches her body up so that she stands with her arms out in a Y. Part of you feels like applauding, but the other part of you remembers that you told her you wouldn't distract her. You watch a few more stretches, exercises, and poses.

How does she move like that? Even though you are watching her you still can't understand how she gets from one pose to another. It just happens so fast and she makes it look easy. Can you imagine spending every evening like this? You on the couch on your phone. Her in the corner distracting you. No, it isn't on purpose, but it is effective. Very effective.

These are the thoughts running...well, strolling through your mind as you watch the latest move. She has started spreading her legs out more and more as she stretches them. This latest pose has one foot flat on the floor and the other foot pointing to the ceiling. And where is her back in all of this? It is straight...straight up and down so that her nose is almost touching her shin.

Why had you worried about disturbing her when here it was her disturbing you and not even trying?

Photos by Alex Shaw on Unsplash